Starship Troopers - Go Fleet!

What started out as a small side project seems to have grown into quite a winter project, I thought I would give a little variety to the SICON forces and give the bugs someone else to chase around the board.

Using 1st Corps Colonial Troopers by giving them a darker paint scheme they are perfect to represent a Fleet Landing party. Familiar to Troopers as the iron hand that keeps them quiet while on board cruisers, Fleet Landing Parties are the security personnel that handle hostile situations on alien worlds.

For the forthcoming campaign over at the Wyvern Wargames club, I have opted for a mix of the original Mongoose Publishing rules and Two Hour Wargames - Chain Reaction rule set, this should give me the right balance between skirmish and campaign rules.

Each landing party unit will consist of the following.

A senior ensign and seven ensigns. 
Each armed with the Morita assault rifle, Frag Grenades and supported by a ensign armed with the MW206 Derringer Auto Cannon.

Type	Rep	Move	Close Combat	Armour	Cost	No.	Equipment
S Ensign Ensign Hvy Weapon Ensign	4 4 4	8” 8" 8"	2xD6 2xD6 2xD6	None None None	55 15 30	1 6 1	7 x Morita assault rifles, 1 MW206 Derringer Auto Cannon, each trooper supplied with a M902F Frag Grenade.

• FLP are issued with a helmet mounted comm link, which allows squad members to communicate the length of the table if in LOS or 24" if not.
• One ensign can be upgraded to a medic at the cost of 15 pts.
• Senior Ensign has the ability to call in off table air support or Fleet bombardment if purchased as a support asset and a Radio communication channel is available.
• One man, One grenade and a whole bunch of bugs.
  Anytime a figure finds himself alone and no friends within 6" and in sight he can choose to use a grenade on himself and the attacking bugs, instead of testing on the being charged table use the Game Over Man Test.

175 Points to help defend the federation and drive back the bugs......

Would you like to know more..... 

The Fall of Lemberg, Galicia 1914 - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 and I am pleased to report a marginal victory for the Russian forces.

I needed to hold the bridges at Lemberg and whilst the counter attack was not repelled we did manage to fight the Austro-Hungarian/German forces to a stand still as the clock struck 4.00pm.

10.00am 

With limited resources consisting of.

Commanding Officer - (status IV),Second in Command - (status III), 1 Cavalry unit, 4 10 Man Sections, 1 HMG, 1 Artillery piece.

I await the counter attack, it's strength is unknown and with two bridges to defend I will be hard pressed to hold them back without a little luck, I spread my infantry units amongst the buildings over looking both bridges, keeping them hidden from view.

The 1st Wave of  Austro-Hungarian/German forces enter the table advancing swiftly down the road, the extra movement afforded to the blinds gives them sight of both bridges within the first few minutes, no Russians were to be seen...

10.30

I can wait no longer every turn I remain hidden allows the Germans to get closer to their objectives the bridges at Lemberg, I unmask my Artillery piece with only limited ammo, I need to make every round count.

The first shells strikes home, with only one unit visable the artillery round sends them diving for cover and the rising shock slows their advance.

The opening salvo flushes out yet more Germans, the crafty German general has flooded the wood with Jagers who advance on the Russian lines, this is going to be a long day in the field.

Blimey just look at this lot, 3 sections and a HMG and little in the way to stop them.

I unmask the last of my defenders at the Northern Bridge, commanded by a Status III bigman they begin to pour fire into the enless tide of Germans, One section and an Artillery piece against the whole German army....

At the eastern bridge the defenders wait for any possible signs of movement.

11.34
The second wave of attackers pour on to the table, by now the Germans have reached the farm house over looking the eastern bridge, still protected by blind movement, I can't be sure of it's strength or make up.
 

The Austro-Hungarian forces unmask in the farm house court yard, sending several volleys into the Russian defenders, Major Yuri Moreski takes a bullet to the throat and is seriously wounded, my Bigman IV is taken out of the fight and his unit goes to ground pinned by the advancing Austrians.

The German 2nd wave is unmasked and pushes forward under shell fire from the defenders in the town.

Meanwhile the Jagers reach the edge of the wood before the HMG can set up a well placed shell kills several of the crew, I can't help being a little smug, although the valiant defenders are now facing odds over over 7:1.

12.30

Pressure on my troops at the Northern bridge forces me to shift additional infantry to support the troops at the bridge, whilst the fire from the eastern bridge is causing some shock it is very clear where the main assault is coming in.

We break for lunch, both of us a little nervous as the clock ticks down.

1.00pm

The Germans press on artillery and rifle fire slow their advance but the independent sections leap frog one another as they are urged on by their CO on the white charger.

Meanwhile in the court yard shock and casualties mount also hindered by a number of low ammo markers, but they are succeeding in pinning my troops to their defences stopping me supporting the northern bridge.

A German sections breaks formation and rushes for the bridge, only to be stopped in its tracks by close range artillery and rifle fire. They won't try that again without support.

Casaulties begin to mount on the wall as the Germans begin to bring more rifle to bear, Jagers line the wood edge and regular infantry march in line abreast towards the bridge.

The German onslaught in all it's glory, but the clock is ticking and only 2 hours remain to win the day.

Relief at last, 12 turns have passed and Russian reinforcements begin to trickle through, time to turn the screw on the Austro-Hungarian invaders. 

Russian sailors lead the vanguard heading for the bridge to take the fight to the Austro-Hungarians.

Scuppered again, the cheeky blighter has countered my bold advance with a unit of lancers, I knew they were in the box, but with only 1 or 2 blinds on the table had hoped they were elsewhere, but with two units of sailors pushing over the bridge and suporting infantry they should be easy to take out if the cards land in the right order...

2.47pm
Shock mounts in the German lines but the officers drive the on.
 

3.21

My card draws first, using one action I expand my frontage to give me extra figures in the fight that we both know is coming, the remaining action is used to fire on the Uhlans but it only inflicts minimal shock on the nasty spikey lancers.

3.42

The lancers charge home, their attack dice double that of my two sections who are forced back in disorder, so much for my hammer blow on the weaker left flank. The lancers have suffered a mere two casaulties for my five.

4.00pm
Game over. The Austro-Hungarian forces have failed in their attempt to force the bridges at Lemberg, but have sufficent forces interdicting the bridges to stop any Russian counter attack.

A great days gaming where the balance swung from one side to another over several hours, the Germans had the greater volume of troops but could not bring their numbers to bear, the Rusians had to balance the need to defend with holding back troops in case reinforcements did not show. 

Back to work tomorrow..... 

The Fall of Lemberg, Galicia 1914 - Part 1

Tomorrow sees a well deserved day off and what better way to unwind than an all dayer.... pitting my Russian forces against the might of the German army.

The scenario is set around the Austro-Hungarian advances into Russian Poland and the subsequent counter attacks by the Russian Army. The Russian Fifth Army supported by the Russian Third Army advanced to Lemberg where they encircled and defeated the Austro-Hungarian Third Army. Russian forces began entering the outskirts of Lemberg.

However all was not going Russia’s way as its supply lines had been severely stretched and the advance was called to a halt whilst supplies were brought up to the front.

I am to command elements from the Fifth Army and are currently held on the outskirts of Lemberg awaiting resupply and orders to advance. This delay alows the Austro-Hungarians the breathing space to launch a counter attack to the south of my current position and are advancing towards Lemberg. 

I need to hold this position and  stop the enemy advancing North. The bridge at Lemberg must be held and this counter attack repelled at all costs.

Ammunition is still in short supply and only time will tell if supplies can reach me in time.

I have the following forces available.

Commanding Officer - Big Man 1 (status IV)

Second in Command - Big Man 2 (status III)

Cavalry unit – Big Man 3 (status II)

6 Units of Russians (10 men each) – Big Man 4 (status II), Big Man 5 + 6 (status I)

2 Units of Sailors (10 men each) – Big Man 7 (status II)

1 HMG and crew

1 Artillery piece

More tomorrow.

Denizen Miniatures 25mm Sci-fi

The hunt for suitable mini's for Starship Troopers goes on, having opted for 1st Corp proxies for the mobile Infantry only then did I realise how few true 25mm Sci-fi figures are on the market.
I picked these up from Denizen Miniatures They are one of the few companies still making true 25mm figures considering how long they have been around they are great figures nicely proportioned and well detailed.

I figured they will be suitable for off duty Mobile Infantry, the centre two are intended to be pilots from the fleet and the final figures are from the outer world colonies.

L-R 2 Mobile Infantry in Fatigues, 2 Fleet Pilots, 2 Outer World Colonists

 

A useful comparison between 1st Corp (28mm) vs Denizen (25mm) once based you can hardly tell the difference.

Very Quiet on the Martian Front....

Fortunately like many gamers I am somewhat of a butterfly, juggling several projects at any one time, good job really as it looks like All Quiet on the Martian Front has been delayed yet again....

I received the following mail in my inbox recently.
 

Project Update #134: Latest All Quiet News

Well it’s February and we are still waiting on the plastics.

This past week, the molds were moved to a new vendor since the old one wasn’t getting the job done. We hope to get some good news next week.  We are, of course, very sorry about the continued delay. It’s of critical importance to us too.

In other news, everything else is on pace.  Several of the models that are extensions of the plastics like the Martian Dominator and some of the steam tanks sit waiting for the plastics to come in so we can do a final test fit. 

Whilst frustrating it does allow me to clear some support pieces likely to be needed, one such project is the wave of humanity needed to flee in the Martians wake.

When I first set out to game WOTW's and WW2 for that matter, I always fancied a column of refugees to clog up the roads and be defended from the invaders, over the years I have managed to amass quite a collection of on there own useless figures, lelt overs from various projects, but put them together and they look rather good.

I wanted to create enough bases to give a certain density, most are from Peter Pigs various ranges.
With 7-10 figures per base there is enough to block a road or give human forces a reason to stand and fight as the civilians flee the table.

In hindsight I should have painted them before adding them to the bases as getting into the centre with the paint brush was a little difficult, but a black undercoat hides many sins.
On mass, I believe I have achieved the desired effect.

"Never before in the history of the world had such a mass of human beings moved and suffered together. The legendary hosts of Goths and Huns,1 the hugest armies Asia has ever seen, would have been but a drop in that current. And this was no disciplined march; it was a stampede—a stampede gigantic and terrible—without order and without a goal, six million people unarmed and unprovisioned, driving headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of civilisation, of the massacre of mankind."
H.G. Wells.

Starship Troopers - Cliff Mites and Incubation Nests

Every bug needs a home....
These Cliff Mites are a useful addition to the Arachnid forces, the first campaign game is less that a month away, I aways paint better with a goal to aim for.

Originally in the CGI series rather than the movie, they seem to fit in well with the general look and feel of my vision for the game. Originally by Mongoose Publishing they are now available by Rebel Mins in the US under the name of Terror Mites.


Small and rugged these forward observers of the Arachnid army are often sent to prepare the way for new tunneling projects, also useful for ambushing any MI troopers who venture to close to any rock formation.

Ultimately I will based them on some Warbase bases to protect the paint work on the limbs, but a rust under coat and a few ink washes and they were ready to go.

I also finished the Incubantion nests from Wargames Terrain Workshop, which I picked up from Minicon a few weeks back, I opted for a desert effect to blend them into my existing collection.

Starship Troopers - Hopper Bugs

Variety is the spice of life or so I am told, can the same be said of wargaming?

One week Russo-Japanese War, the next week Starship Troopers, at least I have not yet combined them into one project that would be just plain weird....

I picked up a box of these from the now OOP Mongoose line several years ago and their they sat on the shelf until the roll out of the new project. The game promises to be a fun club game, ala Zulu with hordes of bugs rushing across the table looking to close with the the well armed but out numbered Mobile Infantry units, it all goes fine until someone losses their bottle.

Although they are simple in design, they looked like a bugger to paint, all legs and wings, hence lying dormant on the to do pile.
 

Now I may have mentioned on a few forums I was on the look out for bugs, several years after everybody else tired of the project. Then a fellow collector "Ghost Panzer" came to my rescue willing to part with part of his collection to aid my cause. 

All ready painted and tabletop ready....
God bless the internet and paypal....

A lovely paint job and a perfect fit for my own collection, now just the challange of painting my own box set to the same standard and palette.

The Hooper's dwarf my MI and should provide the bug forces with a fast strike force to keep the Federation guessing as they stand off and knock chunks out of regular warrior bugs as they crawl out of their various big holes.

The war for mankind just got a whole lot harder.....

Copplestone Castings - Chinese Armed Bandits - The Honghuzi.. Part 2

It's been one of those weeks on the work front, out before it's light and home when it's dark at least Saturday saw some valuable painting time.

Back in May I painted up a unit of Honghuzi or Chinese Bandits for the RJW project, I had a bunch of these from a back of beyond project that never took off, having completed some Russian Cossacks, the Japanese are in need of some mounted reinforcements.

 

During the Russo-Japanese War, the Honghuzi took advantage of the conflict to carry out attacks against Russian forces at any time there were upwards of 10,000 bandits operating in Manchurian area, led by Japanese officers in the pay of Japan, but could easily be paid off to fight for the Russians should he tie of war change.

In other news....
I was fortunate to win a prize on Phyllion's excellent blog - Diary of a Gaming Magpie

A Model Victory by Malcolm Balen.

The book pile is looking a little thin, so perfect timing, a vivid retelling of the Battle of Waterloo, based on unpublished soldiers’ written accounts and the story of William Siborne, an officer who wanted to capture the moment of victory by making the perfect model. Thanks again Phil.